Investigation into the study of botanical photography and its origin (Essay)

Investigation into the study of botanical photography and its origin

~Introduction ~

This project is an investigation into the study of botanical photography and the development of this style of photography as well as the forms of which this photography can take place in. I have always had an interest in flowers and floral photography so I decided to base my project around something that I’m quite fond of. Botanical photography is used to depict plants accurately with respect to their form and colour, providing relevant information documenting plant morphology and function, the environment, plant life histories, diseases, the effects of pollution, and relationships with other life forms. To me botanical photography captures the true nature of the plant and displays its beauty in the most natural form possible. In this essay I intend to highlight the reasons why I have chosen Botanical / floral photography as my Illustrated Project and the origin of the form of photography itself. Within this topic you are also able to capture a range of photographic techniques; for example, you may use documentary style street photography when showing the way of which flowers are displayed. You may also use landscape photography to capture areas that have a wide range of flowers, you could also use different things as cameras like a scanner to get a close up image.

~Brief history~

Modern botanical photography

De Materia Medica

Botanical photography dates back to as early as the 1800's where artists like Anna Atkins and Dr. Tasker used unique mediums to capture botany for example, using radiography and using the cyanotype printing method. Botanical art itself  The practice can be traced back to sometime between 50 and 70 AD, when an illustrated book titled De Materia Medica (meaning on Medical Material) was created by Greek botanist Pedanius Dioscorides to help readers identify plant species for medicinal purposes as Greeks used herbal medicines and needed to know what the plants they required looked like. The eighteenth century saw many advances in the printing processes, allowing colours and details of drawings to appear even more accurate on paper, which developed from using illustrations of plants to actual photographed images of plants. Botanical photography started from artists laying specimens onto sheets of light sensitive paper and then exposing them to light, creating photograms of their silhouettes, This was how botanical photography was achieved until the a Scottish scientist, Henry Fox Talbot developed the first negative to positive photographic process, in the mid 1840’s, from which multiple prints could be made from one negative. This style of photography later developed when Anna Atkins published the first book of photographs in the 19^th century, the English photographer used cyanotypes to develop detailed ‘blueprints’ as she called them, of botanical specimens, this later developed to the style of photography used today due to the invention of the first camera in 1816 when French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce developed the first successful photograph using a camera on paper that was coated with silver chloride, this was then later developed when the first colour photograph was taken in 1861 by Thomas Sutton using the 3 colour method. (K.Tyrrell, 2015, [https://www.botanicalartandartists.com/botanical-photographers.html] accessed 05/11/2019)

cyanotype image

first colour photo

~Photographers research~

My photographers research has a massive influence on my direction of work within this project, I have research a range of different botanical photographers, including early photographers that used light photography, to modern day photographers using modern technology for their photography, all of which I will attempt to factor into my shoots at some point.

One of my chosen artists is Harold Feinstein, Feinstein was an American fine art photographer, when he passed away in June, 2015, the New York Times declared him: “One of the most accomplished recorders of the American experience.”. He started his career young, at the age of 15, and within a few years Edward Steichen purchased some of his work for the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Feinstein about his flowers work "In the late 90′s I began to experiment with digital photography and became one of the first to use a scanner as a camera. This resulted in seven books of large format colour photographs and the Smithsonian Computerworld Award for digital photography in 2000."

 

 

I chose this image by Feinstein as it is almost an illusion as if natural flowers in the wild were upright like this the would grow straight up but due to his use of a scanner as a camera,  he has the ability to create almost illusions as to a viewer, this image would seem impossible to construct without using wires, but as the flowers are essentially laid on a printer, Feinstein has the ability to manipulate them, i also adore how sharp and detailed the image is which sometimes cannot be achieved through studio photography.

 I feel that the meaning behind this image (above) could reflect how a plant may compete for the most light as the lower plants don’t have the most attention when in comparison to the higher up plants. This image may also portray the ways people compete to get to the top as the flowers are battling for space and maybe light, like how people compete for the better jobs and living spaces. there are 7 flowers on a blank black background all in different directions and the flower heads pointing to different angles, some of the flower stems are interwoven.

This image is one of my favourites by Feinstein's as it is almost a bird’s eye view of the flower. With this image you can actually tell it’s been taken with a scanner because of the fold on the flower petals, despite this the image is unique and the scanner used captures so much detail and easily eliminates the background to make the flower the sole focus point of the image.

 I feel that this image is used to portray natural beauty as it hasn’t been heavily edited and shows a close up view of the flower, without any distracted background as well as giving almost a two dimension flattened view of the flower which could reflect that this image is true to what it is and isn’t distorted, which is why I think this picture reflects natural beauty and goes against the social norms about media and altering your appearance.  the picture shows a central positioned flower, face down on a scanner, some of the petals have folds in from where the flower has been placed on the photographic medium, it shows the different purple tones of the flowers petals as well as the central stamen of the plant.

Imogen Cunningham ~ Born on April 12^th 1883 in Oregon, America, Cunningham had a 70 year career in photography, she was most known for her portraiture and her images of plant life, she studied at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she developed an interest in photography. Her earliest prints were made in the tradition of Pictorialism, a style of photography that imitated academic painting from the turn of the century. After studying photography at the Technische Hochschule in Dresden, Germany, from 1909 to 1910, Cunningham opened a portrait studio in Washington and by the early 1920’s Cunningham began to change her style of photography towards close up, sharply detailed images of plants and other natural forms, she experimented with form and allied with other modernist photographers and in 1932 Cunningham joined the association of West Coast photographers known as Group f.64.

i chose this particular image of Cunningham's because it was one that caught my eye, this was because the flowers are particularly known as being colourful and bright but with the use of the black and white, the colours are almost muted, which makes this picture so beautiful. As the flowers carry so much detail and fills the image but because the image is in black and white, it mutes the colours and suggests a sombre mood

 I feel that this picture reflects the idea of family, as the two leftmost flower heads seem to represent the ‘parents’ and the other flowers that haven’t bloomed yet reflect the ‘children’ as in a modern family, the parents are the figures that allow a child to fully bloom and become the person they want to be, and by having these flowers blooming before the others, benefit the rest within the plant and help all the other flower buds to go into full bloom. Despite this, the image could also mean the exact opposite, as due to the other flowers blooming, they could be taking the other flower buds potential to bloom away from them by taking and using up all the essential elements that they all need to survive, just like how in a toxic relationship, one takes opportunities away from the other and deprives them of what they need.

 the image consists of a small collection of flowers on one plant, some in bloom and some not, the image is taken with a light background, which is plain and so doesn’t have anything to distract the viewers eye away from the plant, the picture is light in colour, and doesn’t have a lot of depth or range of tones. This image may have been taken with a long shutter speed, which allows more light from the setting into the lens, causing the lightness in colour, I feel that the true focus point of this image are the 2 flowered buds, which are more central to the image.

 

I chose this image by Cunningham as it has contrasting tones and gives two different viewpoints to one plant, the light and the dark, both with incredible levels of depth and tone, this image is so powerful due to the simplicity of it as it clearly hasn’t been heavily edited, other than the black and white element, it also shows a lot of contrast between the two flowers, one portraying a lighter range of tones when in comparison to the other.

 I feel that this image could be a reflection of mental health, and how a person can seem light and happy on the outside but deep down they’re in a dark place and ‘droopy’ I feel that this picture has this kind of connotation because the main focus of the image to me is the lighter flower, and the other flower is almost hiding in the others shadow, this picture could also reflect the two sides of a person’s personality and how at one point they can be happy and light and at other times their personality can almost turn dark and evil.

 this image depicts two different viewpoints to one plant, the light and the dark, both flower heads are facing different directions and the picture is taken with a dark background, I feel this image has a lot of depth and was taken with a low f-stop and shutter speed due to the clarity and depth of the picture.

 Dale M Reid ~ Reid is a contemporary fine art photographer based in Toronto, Canada. Her work is inspired by studying other photographers and has been compared to Ansel Adams as well as contemporary photographers. When creating her work she uses black and white film and more traditional methods. I feel that Reid's flower portfolio is relevant to my work because she photographs flowers using an black and white medium and still manages to capture every little detail of the floral arrangements, I aspire to use her kind of approach in my work as a form of experimentation by using coloured film or using lighting to capture the silhouettes of the flowers similar to Reid's work.

 

I chose this particular image of Reid's because it was one that caught my eye, this was because sunflowers are particularly known as being bright and bold flowers but with the use of the black and white, the colours are cancelled out, which makes this picture so beautiful. 

Sunflowers are usually connotative with happiness and joy, like the colour yellow, but because the image is in black and white, it cancels out  the happy  yellow colours and suggests a change of mood. This image may be used to show that even the happiest things can be sad, this use of the black and white medium to the image suggests a sombre mood and could signify an argument between two people as the two flower heads are facing away from each other.

 the picture shows two sunflowers, in black and white, up against a blank, black background, which singles out the flowers as the subjects of the images, despite the obvious vast amount of space, both flowers are slightly out of frame, the use of black and white for this image adds depth and tone to the flowers as well as a powerful amount of detail.

I like this image by Reid because of its simplicity and how the framing of the flower is used so well with the space given and how the centre of the flower lines up perfectly with the centre of the image. 

 The use of a singular flower like this instead of more, could relate to the feeling of loneliness and being almost singled out from the crowd, like this flower would've been singled out from a bunch, this image could also relate to being a powerful individual, this use of the black and white medium to the image suggests a sombre mood and could signify how a light mood can change a dark situation, as the lighter coloured flower lightens up the image as it is up against a dark background.

The flower is framed well within the image borders and it centred and detailed, the use of the dark background accentuates the most intricate details of the flower, especially the central part and the curves of the petals, in general the flower fills the space well and shows multiple levels of depth and clarity to the picture.

~The relevance of my work~

 All this research is highly relevant to my work, especially Feinstein’s work with flowers as I aspire to eventually create images with the same level of clarity and detail of his images, of which he uses a scanner to take them, which I aspire to attempt to do later on as my shoots progress, so far my shoots have been heavily inspired my above artists in terms of how they take their images as well as how they portray their pictures in terms of editing, I feel that at the moment my work is very heavily influenced by Feinstein’s flower series, and only touches on my other artists work, like my first shoot which was influenced by both Cunningham and Reid in terms of their use of black and white photography.

shoot 4 image, inspired by Feinstein's work with floral photography

shoot 1 image, influenced by both Reid and Cunningham's
 black and white floral photography

~Future ~

In the future I hope that this style of photography progresses massively and helps with the discovery of new plant species as well as the artistic aspect that one day this style photography progresses to the point where it is highly recognised around the world as a well-known form of art as well as for commercial uses and that botanical photography becomes a popular style of photography again and that hopefully with the advancements in technology, botanical photography will progress to a microscopic level of close up photography.

~Conclusion~

In conclusion, I intend to inspire my work more towards the floral series of Harold Feinstein as I have a love for his work and the simplicity of his images and the vast levels of detail that they hold, technological developments have massively changed the way photographs are taken, as my brief history shows that photography has developed from black and white to a full blown colour spectrum of photographic materials. Eventually I intend to mix all of my artists work into one and do a shoot using a scanner and eventually editing the images into black and white like Cunningham’s and Reid’s work.

~Bibliography/references.~

(K.Tyrrell, 2015, Botanical Photographers, [https://www.botanicalartandartists.com/botanical-photographers.html] accessed 05/11/2019)


(Various authors, 6 January 2020, De Materia Medica, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_materia_medica] accessed 12/01/2020)

(B.Genocchio, 2004, Where art and botany coupled photography, [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/04/nyregion/art-review-where-art-and-botany-coupled-photography-evolved.html ] accessed 05/11/2019)


( National Science and Media Museum June 1 2011, A SHORT HISTORY OF COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY, [https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/a-short-history-of-colour-photography/] accessed 05/11/2019]


( Dale M Reid, 2020, Biography, [https://www.dalemreidphotography.com/bio.asp], accessed 13/01/2020]


(The Art Story, 2019, Imogen Cunningham - Biography and Legacy, [https://www.theartstory.org/artist/cunningham-imogen/life-and-legacy/ ] accessed 05/11/2019)

( Harold Feinstein, 2019, Bio, [https://www.haroldfeinstein.com/bio/] accessed 05/11/19)